Below is the lesson for “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran.

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An elegant fingerstyle adaption of the global hit song that is “perfect” for the intermediate player. See what I did there… I’m so punny! 🙂 In all seriousness, this is an excellent study for fingerpicking and incorporating a tapped backbeat.

With just a handful of chords (albeit, quite a few variations), this piece is very straightforward in regards to fingerpicking patterns and approaches. The true challenge in this piece lies in its time signature and syncopated rhythms. This song is composed in 12/8. This means that we have 12 beats per measure, and the 8th note gets the beat. Take a look at the picture below.

We can see that in 12/8, 8th notes are grouped in 3’s, which would be the equivalent of 8th note triplets in 4/4. If you are new to playing 8th note triplets, check out this lesson. Furthermore, in the part 2 lesson we will be discussing incorporating vibrato into your playing. Here is an extra lesson if you are new to this technique.